In my post on Fred Barnes’s scoop on Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s declaration on the evanescence of the the senatorial blue slip, I asked for the ocular proof. Now Politico reports that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley may have a wrinkle or two to add to Senator McConnell’s declaration: »

At an informal House hearing yesterday attended by GOP members only, Rep. Scott Perry sought to draw attention to the damage that may have been done by former Debbie Wasserman Schultz IT staffer Imran Awan, now under indictment on unrelated charges. Fox News reports the findings announced by Perry: Perry, a member of the Homeland Security subcommittee on cyber security, said Tuesday that the House Office of Inspector General tracked »

In news of interest to those of us who have been following the judicial confirmation wars in the Senate in general and in the matter of the nomination of Justice David Stras to the Eighth Circuit in particular, Fred Barnes reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken the reins, whipped the horse and expedited matters. Fred supplies this bill of particulars (the first of which I have slightly »

Melanie Phillips recently drew attention to the September 25 appearance of a former prince of Hamas with a surprising message at the 36th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The sole purpose of this worse than worthless organization seems to be the disparagement of Israel. Melanie posted the video along with an introduction. Here is the video. Up for discussion was the evergreen subject of human rights »

In 1747 Samuel Johnson announced the plan to write what became his Dictionary of the English Language. Johnson had hoped to get the job done in three years. His friend Richard Adams questioned his ability to complete such a massive undertaking in such a short time. It had taken the 40 members of the French Academy 40 years to compile their Dictionary, Adams reminded him. Boswell reported Johnson’s famous response: »

Susan Glasser recorded a podcast under the moniker of Global Politico yesterday with Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. Glasser focused the interview on national security and foreign policy issues. Senator Cotton expresses himself trenchantly in complete sentences and full paragraphs. He is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He speaks frequently with President Trump. He knows what he is talking about. The interview is lucid and informative. I have embedded »

San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid is Colin Kaepernick’s partner in slime, though Reid has kept his job. He seeks to preserve the protest they took up last year during the playing of the national anthem before NFL games. Reid has accordingly spoken out against Vice President Pence’s counterprotest yesterday expressed in his departure from the Colts/49ers game while Reid did his thing. Reid characterized Pence’s departure as a “PR »

The Weekly Standard has posted a brilliant column by senior editor Lee Smith reflecting on the meaning of the disgrace of Harvey Weinstein. Lee’s piece is titled “The human stain: Why the Harvey Weinstein story is worse than you think.” It is unlike anything else you will read on Weinstein and full of quotable quotes to boot, including this cutting “thought experiment”: Would the Weinstein story have been published if »

President Trump has issued the traditional proclamation recognizing Columbus Day with unambivalent praise. That seems eminently reasonable to me. Columbus Day is intended to commemorate the first link in the chain of events leading to the founding of the United States. Those of us who love the United States are inclined to celebrate the day. Trump puts it this way in the proclamation: “The permanent arrival of Europeans to the »

Former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber helped put together a tribute to former Minnesota Senator Rudy Boschwitz in the Cowles Auditorium of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs last night. The University of Minnesota’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance was also on board as a host. Before his election to the Senate, Rudy had made his name as the down to earth retail businessman who built Plywood Minnesota. »

Boz Scaggs played with a hot touring band before a packed house last night at the State Theater in downtown Minneapolis. We’ve seen Boz there a few times before, but this performance was special. The appreciation of the audience was so intense you could feel it. Something was different. I couldn’t figure out what it was was. Even in the several lesser known blues numbers that he interspersed among the »

I want to add a few notes to Paul’s comments as well as my own on the gargantuan Ken Burns/Lynn Novick PBS documentary The Vietnam War. I think it warrants more informed commentary than my own, but let me these offer notes while we wait for knowledgeable observers such as Mackubin Owens, Victor Davis Hanson and James Robbins to weigh in. As of this weekend, we do have George Veith’s »

Over the past several months I’ve reported the machinations involving President Trump’s nomination of Minnesota Justice David Stras to the Eighth Circuit. The nomination dates back to early May. The nomination remains in limbo. President Trump has yet to nominate candidates for four other vacancies including United States Marshal, United States Attorney and two federal district court judgeships. All these pieces are in play. The principal players dealing with the »

Ammo Grrrll is not herself a vicim of GENDER DYSPHORIA or “GIRLS” GONE STUPID. She writes: I will not be commenting – except indirectly further on – on the monstrous evil in Las Vegas until more facts are known. I am writing this on Tuesday, must submit it for editing on Wednesday, so by the time you are reading this, anything I have to say about Vegas will either be »

While we wait for the authorities to complete their investigation of the Las Vegas massacre, I want without further comment to compile a few of the stories documenting the humanity and heroism amid the horror. At the bottom I include President Trump’s statement at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department yesterday paying tribute to law enforcement officers who answered the call: • Wesley Lowerey (Washington Post): “Two strangers bond over »

When I wrote about Mark Steyn’s appearance to speak at the fall briefing of the Center of the American Experiment in 2014, I noted Mark’s improvisation at length on the theme of Rich Richman from a New York Post story on President Obama’s fundraising appearance earlier that week at the mansion of the gazillionaire. I noted that Mark played with the theme of “Rich Richman” like a jazz soloist taking »

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has turned over its file in the shooting of Justine Damond by Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. (Digression: Freeman is the son of former Minnesota Governor and JFK Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman. On the desk I am working at, I have a photograph of my father checking Orville Freeman in to a room at the Comstock Hotel »